


The Wolf

by AkaSHEEEEEEE



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: (s), Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Childhood in first chapter, M/M, Red Riding Hood Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-11-17 03:08:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11266686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkaSHEEEEEEE/pseuds/AkaSHEEEEEEE
Summary: In a world shared by humans and part human part animal hybrids, the wolves have agreed to stay on their side of the fences. But Tadashi really needs to use the woods as a shortcut...





	1. Late

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been sitting on this one for a while, mostly because I wanted to finish my Eros and Psyche AU first, but I really want to get this one out there. If you are reading my Eros and Psyche one I swear fourth chapter is on it's way. OH and the title for this one comes from the SIAMES song The Wolf. Awesome song, check it out.

Tadashi darted along the path home, bouncing lightly on his feet, his backpack rhythmically tapping his back. He really couldn’t be late tonight, as his parents were already suspicious of how often he was late. Somehow he’d been able to explain away his bruises and scrapes each time. Seriously, no elementary school students should be allowed to be that violent. Ugh, the sun was already going down. The path he was on left his school’s neighborhood and wound through the woods, to the area where he lived. The path was a safe zone, but it was also very long, and even running wouldn’t get him home on time. His gaze travelled to the trees around him. If he cut through the woods, he could get home before his parents worried.

Slowly approaching the fence meant to discourage trespassing, he thought of every adult in his life telling him to stay far away from the woods, and never to cross the fence because the wolves that lived there would eat him. They’d spoken at length about the big human forms marred by dog ears and coarse tails. Images of long, sharp fangs filled his mind, and cruel claws to match. Then he thought of the concerned face of his mother asking where he had been, and the snarling face of one of his bullies, telling him it’d get worse if he told anyone. He then found that his decision was already made. 

To keep avoiding having to make a decision, he’d gladly face the wolves. He rested his palms on the top of the fence, feeling the worn, smooth surface that had been shaped by the elements for years. He pressed down hard, lifting himself and hooking a leg over the fence. He scrambled down ungracefully, wincing at the stinging from the bruises and scrapes littering his body and walked towards the looming shadows, his small shoes touching the layer of pine needles gingerly. He kept going, although fear did creep silently into the back of his mind and take a seat, watching his exploits, ready to alert him anytime. 

The trees were large, eerie things. He felt like he was being watched. Pushing these feelings down, he squared his thin shoulders and gripped the straps of his backpack as he walked straight through the forest. He was in one of the thinnest parts of it, so his trip should be relatively short. A shadow flew past, rustling the leaves of a tree. Tadashi jumped, squeaking and darting forward several yards before realizing that the shadow had been a bat. He slowed again, glancing around at the darkness and shivering. He was now near the edge of the forest, and had seen no wolves. When a twig snapped behind him, Tadashi was forced to ask himself why he couldn’t have simply kept his big mouth shut.

 

“Why hello there.” Tadashi turned slowly, closing his eyes and wishing he could do the same with his ears, to block that grating, high voice. When he opened his eyes, he found himself a few feet from three wolf cubs. They looked close to his age, but were all bigger than him. Shocker. Dog ears poked through their dark hair, and he saw a tail curling around one of their legs. The one Tadashi assumed had spoken stepped forward, grinning and showing his long, sharp fangs. 

 

“How cool would it be if we brought back our first human before we were even taught to hunt, huh guys?” Tadashi swallowed, but didn’t dare open his mouth. Then he twisted and bolted, but was promptly tackled, the lead cub’s hand gripping him hard enough to bruise. In a strange moment of clarity, Tadashi remembered that they didn’t grow sharp, strong claws until they were older. Then he shrieked, recalling their incredible hearing and hoping to give the leader pause. 

 

“God, shut up!” His face was pressed into the pine needles and he flailed, struggling against the heavy body on top of him. Did this guy really have to sit right where he’d been kicked a few times?

 

Suddenly the air was filled with high, clear laughter. He thought for a moment the cubs were the source, but it was only one voice.

 

“What are  _ you  _ doing here??” The voice came from behind him, so Tadashi assumed that one of the other cubs had finally spoken. 

 

“I could ask you three the same, but I don’t particularly care.” It was the new voice, that high, clear one. Now that Tadashi heard him speak, he also noted a nasal quality to it. Then he was laughing again, the same mocking edge to it that he’d heard the first time, and he decided that this individual wasn’t friends with his attackers.

 

“Seriously, you have fangs, more strength than many adult humans, and yet here you are,  _ sitting  _ on your prey. That’s just sad.” 

 

“Hey! Shut up, we caught a human!”

 

“Yep, which means he must be almost as stupid as you. Or suicidal, I guess? Are you suicidal, human?” Tadashi tried to reply, but his voice was muffled by the pine needles that his face was still being pressed into. This set the voice off into laughter again.

 

“Ha! I almost feel sorry for him; being crushed under your incompetent ‘hunting’ method.”

 

Quiet, padding feet approached him. The new voice was now quieter, and far more threatening, even if he knew that the danger wasn’t directed at him.

 

“Maybe I should show you lot how it’s done.” Tadashi felt the weight of the cub lifting slightly, his body tense. 

 

“Why would you fight us?” There was a mildly hysterical note in the cub’s voice. “There’s three of us and only one of you.” The other voice was snickering dangerously again. 

 

“Three of you. Yep, and one of you can only sit on things to fight them, and the other two look a bit frozen.” The weight of the cub disappeared completely, and Tadashi heard him scrambling back towards his comrades. Tadashi didn’t move, too frightened of the voices bouncing off each other in battles above his head.

 

“Whatever. God you’re so lame!” The three cubs bolted, throwing their last juvenile whine over their shoulders. Then there was silence. Tadashi considered laying still and waiting for the last person to leave. After a beat of silence, he knew with dreadful certainty that the person with the snarky attitude wasn’t going anywhere, so he slowly pushed himself up. Staring at the ground, he arranged his short limbs into a sitting position and brushed himself off. He messed with his hair in order to avoid looking up, but was forced to by the long, pointed silence. 

When he finally raised his head, Tadashi beheld a tall figure, taller than all the other cubs had been, yet he still appeared young. His hair was short and light, the curls nearly disguising the similarly colored ears that poked through them. His skin was fair, and his eyes were bright, focused and staring directly at him with slitted gold interest. He wore a purple hoodie and jeans, and he crouched down to look at Tadashi. The movement seemed somehow condescending. He studied Tadashi for a moment, then got up and began to walk away into the woods.

 

“W-wait!” Tadashi’s voice seemed unnaturally loud after the silence of the last minute. The blond wolf glanced over his shoulder and fixed him with those golden eyes again.

 

“What?” His voice had turned flat.

 

“Um, thanks. For saving me.” Tadashi was unsure whether that counted as  ‘saving him’ or not, but better safe than sorry. Mind, what with the way the cub was looking at him, the sharp, cruelly amused expression crossing his face, Tadashi might have been safer keeping his mouth shut. 

 

“Saving you? What part of what I said made you think I cared about your well-being?” Tadashi’s eyes, which had flicked down to the boy’s tail rather than look him in the eye, dropped to the ground. His smug drawl unnerved Tadashi, a shiver running down his spine at the sight of the cub’s fangs.

 

“Well, you scared them off, and you were going to leave without killing me.” Tadashi really wished he didn’t make everything sound like a question.

 

“That constitutes caring in your book? That is so sad.” The boy was still looking at Tadashi over his shoulder, not turning around.

 

“You may be right, but my gratitude stands. I’m getting home unscathed thanks to you.”  _ That _ got the boy’s attention. His eyes narrowed and he finally turned all the way around. 

 

“Well we can’t have that, can we?” Was the only warning Tadashi got before the boy pounced.

 

Tadashi hit the pine needle carpet for the second time in five minutes, throwing up his arms as the cub slammed into him. He squeaked as the fangs that had flashed in the boy’s smug smirk sunk into his arm. The intense stabbing pain caused Tadashi to forget all about the minor scrapes the bullies had left him with. The blond squeezed for a moment, then released him and nosed past Tadashi’s arms until they were nose to nose. Golden eyes met brown ones glimmering with tears of pain, and bloody teeth growled at him.

 

“ _ Go home _ .” He hissed. He then rolled off Tadashi and darted off into the woods. Tadashi leapt to his feet and ran from the woods, jumping the fence smoothly and sprinting all the way home.


	2. Sunlight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More stuff! I am amazed by all the positivity I received on the first chapter, thanks you lovely people you. Third chapter is already in the works.

Warm autumn sunlight trickled down roofs and overflowed out of gutters, pooling between shadows. A new shadow emerged from one of the houses, imposing itself upon the undisturbed domain of sunlight and quietly trekked down the path. It had only been three days since Tadashi’s last excursion into the woods, but now that it was the weekend, he felt compelled to return. He tugged his sleeve down further over the pristine white bandage covering his right forearm as one of his neighbors passed him. He really didn’t want to explain it and have to lie again. Honestly he was rather amazed that his parents had bought his story that a feral dog had bitten his arm. Mind Tadashi had never shown much interest in the woods, and he was a fairly obedient child, so no wonder his parents didn’t expect he’d do something so stupid. Too bad that was a overestimation of Tadashi. At least he wasn’t going in the dark this time.

He slowly approached the fence, in the same spot as before and came to a standstill. Once more his hands came up, as if of their own volition, and rested on the study wooden beam that stood at about his chest level. Not that that was very high. There were scars in this wood, like the scar that would be left after the bite on his arm healed. He stared down at the barrier, silently pondering who may have crossed before, and from which side they may have come. He stilled then, his gaze lifting to the trees as if they’d move suddenly. It was only an hour past noon, yet the shadows of the forest reached for him, almost malevolently. He studied the point where the shadows of the closest trees weakened and yielded to the spilled daylight that soaked the ground. The dappled surface swayed as a breeze stirred the branches, shifting gently over the grass that seemed to burn at its touch, though still damp with the rain from yesterday.

“What are you doing here? Are you genuinely suicidal?” Tadashi started and looked up. He felt blinded for a moment, like he was staring into the sun, but no, only two eyes of the same golden hue. Perhaps they cast the same light. Tadashi wondered if someone looking at him would see patterns of light dripping down his cheeks, as if two spotlights were focussed on his face. Wow that cub looked annoyed. Or possibly, concerned? Who could tell. 

“I came back to talk to you.” Blurted Tadashi, who still felt frozen to the spot by the blond cub’s gaze. Said gaze narrowed at this comment.

“Why.” Ok, annoyed was sounding more accurate.

“You, I wanted to thank you for Wednesday.” He probably sounded foolish now. He fidgeted, twisting his fingers around each other and squeezing, leaving nail marks dug into his skin.

“Huh. Do you thank the boys at your school for beating you up and chasing you home as well?” The cub drawled. Tadashi flinched. 

“How did you…” He stared at the cub, who rolled his eyes and gestured towards the path Tadashi was on. “I’m usually near here around the time you go home.” Ah. Tadashi felt himself flush with crimson shame and shuffled his feet in the dirt. The cub knew. The tall, snarky cub who didn’t even need to fight because of his arguments, but who undoubtedly could protect himself, had seen him utterly failing at just that.

“I- ah, I felt safer here though?” The cub’s face relaxed then, as if in thought. He frowned, and looked back at Tadashi. 

“You know they would’ve taken you to some of our adults, right? You would’ve been eaten.” The cub’s hands slipped out of his pockets and he crossed his arms reflexively.

“But I would understand why.” The cub’s eyes widened slightly, a faint look of concern ruling his features. He sighed, and glanced around into the trees before jerking his head towards them and raising an eyebrow. A wide grin burst across Tadashi’s face and he clambered once more over the fence, dropping onto the glowing grass and noting the way his shadow fit perfectly into those of the trees. He stepped out of the light and stared up into the cub’s glowing eyes instead. He stuck out a hand the way his parents had taught him to and said, “My name is Yamaguchi Tadashi! Nice to meet you.” Finally the cub’s face relaxed again and with a slight grin coming to his features once more, he took Tadashi’s hand and replied, “Tsukishima Kei. Pleased to meet you as well.” 

“Oh, and I’m not suicidal, since you keep asking.” Tadashi mumbled. Tsukishima glanced at him.

“You could have fooled me. You do seem particularly drawn to this forest full of people who would eat you in a heartbeat.” Tsukishima turned and walked between the trees, gesturing for Tadashi to follow him. Tadashi’s footsteps were muffled by the layer of pine needles that filled the air, damp with yesterday’s rain, with their sharp scent.

They padded over the ground, Tadashi’s shoes and Tsukishima’s bare feet becoming soaked by rainwater. Eventually they reached a drop, a sharply cut off hill from their perspective. Tsukishima lead him underneath the overhang, as Tadashi could now see a cave in the side of the hill. Walking inside, the dappled sunlight they’d been walking through seemed to stop at the mouth of the cave. Tsukishima turned then, and gestured towards a log that had stayed dry within the cave and commented “you can sit, if you want.”

Tadashi gingerly sat on the log and Tsukishima sat at the other end, leaning against the wall of the cave, fixing Tadashi with his golden eyes once more. Only now he seemed slightly restless, fidgeting almost nervously. Tadashi searched for something to say.

“So, I- uh-”

“I thought I smelled human in here.” There it was. Tadashi should’ve recalled that when sitting in shadow, one won’t notice another being cast. He and Tsukishima looked up simultaneously at the tall, golden-haired wolf standing in the mouth of the cave. He grinned with a mouth full of fangs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment and/or constructive criticism, and I will see you next time.


	3. Former Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay..... I got hit with this thing called "life". It's not supposed to happen to me over the summer, but it did. Next update will be within the next couple days I swear. Also, I only intended to have the first chapter be childhood, but that kinda... expanded. So I decided to drop a timeskip + flashbacks here. Please let me know if it fits or if I suck and should've just done chronological order.

“Where are you headed off to?” Tadashi paused at the sound of his mother’s voice. He finished tugging on his shoes and twisted to look back down the entry hall of his home at his mother.

“Out?” He really needed to learn to speak with conviction. “I’m done with all my homework, and it’s a pretty nice day out, so I thought I’d take a walk.” His mother looked at him suspiciously.

“That’s alright, I suppose. But be extra careful for me, you’ve been injured a lot lately. I swear, sometimes I wonder if you’ll last until your first year of high school without breaking a bone.” 

“Well, that’s only a few months now, it’s nearly summer. I’ll be careful though.” He grinned brightly at her and turned to open the door. “I’m off!” He called over his shoulder and stepped out into the late spring sunlight. He trotted off down the path through the town, worn sneakers tapping the packed dirt evenly. Once he was out of view of the little mismatched houses, and had made sure no one was coming up the path from the other side, he stood facing the fence. The thing that most kept people out of the woods was the sounds the wolves made at night. The fence was less a safety net as a slight reminder, as it now stood up to his waist. Besides, look at how many years he’d been climbing over this fence and still hadn’t been caught from an adult on either side. With this thought, he swung a leg over the fence, shifted and pulled himself over without any trouble. Now he was in slight danger, inside the fence but not within the trees that stood, either for protection or rapid death, depending on where you go. Tadashi approached them, falling quickly under their shadow, heavy and familiar, like a blanket. He shivered and kept walking. He had a system with Tsukishima, or “Tsukki” as he now referred to his friend.

“Here, and the spot you’ve come in the last two times. You’re really lucky, if you had come in anywhere else, you probably would’ve been eaten.” Tsukishima grinned at him, but it had nowhere near the effect his brother’s grin had held. 

“See, all the families have their own territory, and you wandered into our area, but barely, the first time. You were on a border, which is why you ran into those guys the first time.”

He slunk between the trees, pine needles muffling his footsteps. Their sharp scent filled the air, and a few inches of bright green hung off the end of each branch. The new growth of spring. The air still smelt of last night’s rain, the tail end of a three day storm. The wind appeared to have knocked a tree to the earth, creating a gap in the perpetual shadowy layer of the forest. Passing it, Tadashi raised a arm to block the sunlight from pouring into his eyes. This allowed his eyes to focus on the scar left by his best friend. 

“You’re not mad?” Tsukishima raised an eyebrow. Tadashi shook his head, picking an auburn leaf off his bandages. He grinned widely.

“Nah, doesn’t matter.” He waved his arm about goofily. Tsukishima smiled, then broke out into disbelieving giggles.

“I savaged your arm, and it doesn’t matter?”

“Guess not.” Tadashi replied easily, giving his friend a warm smile.

Tsukishima hadn’t really mentioned it after that, except explaining that he’d been trying to discourage future visits to the woods. Tadashi had just started laughing and snarked about how that hadn’t even kept him away for a full recovery period. 

Tadashi traced the now familiar route towards the clearing where Tsukishima spent most of his time. It was more a ravine, a divide between hills that contained several caves that the wolves had dug out and added support beams, transforming them into rooms. Sliding back into the shadows, he lowered his arm back his arm. He saw Tsukishima looking at the scar sometimes, his golden gaze simmered down to glimmering coals. 

“Tadashi!!” Tadashi looked up, startled out of his reverie. A tall familiar wolf was waving at him, a fanged grin glinting with a much different meaning than the first time he’d seen it.

Tadashi trembled, his body thrumming with adrenaline, his legs tensed to run. Not that he could go anywhere, since the wolf stood in the cave mouth, and Tadashi wouldn’t be able to outrun him anyway. However, he noticed, the wolf wasn’t even looking at him, he had had turned his frightening grin on Tsukishima.

“Kei.” Tsukishima was staring at the floor and didn’t acknowledge that his name had been spoken.

“Keeeeeeiiiiiiii.” There was an unusual note of teasing in the wolf’s tone and Tadashi noticed mild embarrassment, not concern or fear on Tsukishima’s face.

“C’mon, you’ve dragged a human in here and now I’m getting the silent treatment?” Tsukishima blushed and mumbled, “What do you want, Nii-san?”

Nii-san? Was Tadashi not going to get eaten? He really didn’t want to get eaten, hopefully the rest of Tsukishima’s family was as lenient about humans as the cub himself.

“Well, getting that poor child out of danger is probably my priority. An introduction would be nice though.”The blond wolf looked over at Tadashi, his grin never fading. 

“For reference, if I could smell you in here, others can as well. Oh, and I’m Tsukishima Akiteru. Follow me?” Akiteru turned and strode out of the cave, Tsukishima slipped from his perch and followed after his brother. Tadashi trotted up next to him and muttered at him.

“Is he mad? Is he cool? You didn’t tell me you had a brother!” Tsukishima glanced at him incredulously.  
“Well no, we had basically no time to talk. Also no he isn’t mad and yeah, he’s cool. Do you have any siblings?”

“No. Where is he taking us?” Tsukishima snickered quietly. 

“So you question where Akiteru is taking us, but you didn’t really care when you were following me.” 

“Hey! I know you.” Tadashi said indignantly. Tsukishima laughed again.

“Yes, the grand total of like ten minutes we have known each other, which includes the time I attacked you. That’s a lot to build trust off of.”

Akiteru had taken them to ravine Tadashi was now approaching. 

“Hello Akiteru, How are you? Back for a visit?” Tadashi smiled, it had been a while since Akiteru had been back. He’d moved to another forest, and travelled a lot. Wolves didn’t have much room to maneuver without a human trying to kill them, but Akiteru insisted.

“I’m great, and yes I am. Here to see your boyfriend?” Akiteru bobbed his eyebrows obnoxiously and Tadashi’s grin widened.

“I wish.” He said, sighing dramatically. “He’s just so… straight.”

“Wanna bet?” Tadashi laughed and waved him off. He was definitely not having this conversation with Akiteru… again. 

“I’ve kept you. Have a nice day doing, whatever you’re off to do.” Akiteru looked disappointed that Tadashi clearly wasn’t up for contesting his brother’s sexuality, especially since the older Tsukishima knew he’d win. 

He settled for saying, “You as well.” Before wandering off.

Tadashi slipped into the ravine and approached the the room where Tsukishima lived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for staying for another chapter! Next one will be soon. Also I'm plugging keiji05's fic 'Visual Kei' http://archiveofourown.org/works/11367687/chapters/25447506  
> Because it's FANTASTIC.  
> See you, Space Cowboy.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, please leave constructive criticism! Or any comment really.


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